Who We Are

Background

What We Do

How We Do Our Work

Watershed Approach

Statutory and Regulatory Framework

Structure

Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) is operated for the Department of Energy (DOE) by the University of California (UC). It is located in the mountains of northern New Mexico because the remote and rugged terrain provided the secrecy necessary for the Manhattan Project during World War II.

Los Alamos is the birthplace of the atomic bomb, and many of the processes used to carry out LANL's past and present missions involve the use of hazardous and radioactive materials.

During World War II, and for a while thereafter, some of these materials were disposed of on the LANL site or were otherwise released into the environment. Beginning in the 1960s, Congress enacted basic legislation to protect the environment. During that time, the DOE's predecessor, known as the Atomic Energy Commission, and LANL began to conduct surveys and to clean up areas where spills and disposal had occurred.

The Remediation Services project is intended to definitively determine the presence or absence of hazardous and radioactive wastes as a result of LANL operations and to address any sites where such materials are still found to exist. The purpose of this web site is to describe how the DOE and UC are conducting the DOE's environmental restoration at LANL.